Sometimes, life just isn’t fair.
You could be at the top of the world one day, only to have a tragic event or accident send you spiraling down into a pit of nothingness.
If it has happened to you before, you may think your personal brand is the last thing you need to worry about. But the truth is, even though you’re at your lowest, your brand could be the best it’s ever been.
If you don’t continue to regularly maintain your personal brand, it could very well topple. And this may sound like lip service, but things will get better — and you won’t want to find that all the progress your brand has made turned sour due to lack of maintenance.
The following tips are to help you maintain your personal brand when you’re at your lowest. Each one requires an open mind and a small bit of determination.
1. Bring in the reinforcements.
Sometimes when you’re feeling down, the best thing to do is get away from all the stresses in your life, managing your personal brand included. But that doesn’t mean you have to watch it fail — there is still a way to go on a mental vacation while still maintaining your brand.
Hire a freelance social media manager or content creator for a couple weeks and charge them with the task of upkeeping your personal brand. The cost would be minimum, and you can take all the time you need to get your mind back together.
If you’re worried about giving random strangers temporary access to your profiles, ask your industry connections if they have anyone they can recommend. Don’t let your pride get in the way of keeping up your brand!
2. Fight through just one more day.
When your heart seems like it was replaced with a black hole, work is nearly impossible to think about. But if you’re reading this, it means some part of you must want to save your personal brand from destruction, so make it through just one more day.
Here are a couple ways you can use that day to maintain your brand:
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Use a social media tool like Sprout Social to schedule your content days, weeks, or months in advance. Curate and schedule as much content as you can in that day, so you won’t have to worry about the basics of personal brand maintenance being in jeopardy.
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If you were scheduled for any webinars or speaking engagements, you might have forgotten them in the frenzy of emotions. Take that day to formally and respectfully cancel and, if possible, reschedule for a date you know you’ll be better. You don’t want to burn any bridges while you’re on your sabbatical.
3. Challenge yourself.
The road to feeling better lasts only as long as you make it. Challenge yourself to do at least one thing every day to maintain your personal brand. It doesn’t have to be anything big — only the basics — and you can gradually do more and more as you start to mentally recover.
If you need to, make a schedule or to-do list in your phone that alerts you when you need to complete a task. If you have even an ounce of determination, you can get this done and maintain your personal brand until you’re at or close to 100%.
